Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Interview: Wayne Allyn Root says "President Trump is a brilliant deal-maker, negotiator and salesman. Set him loose on China."

This is the second of five articles spanning my discussion with Wayne Allyn Root. The first piece can be read here. Material quoted below appeared in yesterday's article, offering background on Root and our discussion.

Story by Joseph Ford CottoWhat does it mean to be a libertarian nowadays?There is no shortage of philosophical diversity among people who describe themselves as such, which is hardly surprising since libertarianism is not a belief system for those congenial to group-think. Nonetheless, when devout family values-oriented Christians and atheist gay pride marchers both claim the same label, it is understandable that many folks are left scratching their heads.Few individuals have so much experience with both libertarianism as an idea structure and Libertarian partisan politics as Wayne Allyn Root. He is an author, talk radio host, entrepreneur, and, generally speaking, observer of the human animal. In 2008, he was the Libertarian Party's vice presidential nominee. It can be argued that no other second-placeholder on the Libertarian ticket has ever done as much to publicize his party and its ideals as Root did. During Barack Obama's presidency, Root took voiced limited government concerns with gusto and ultimately decided that the Libertarian banner was not making a serious difference in American political life.While supporting Mitt Romney and -- on an enthusiastic level -- Donald Trump, Root retained his libertarian values. In a 2012 statement, which made clear his vacating Libertarian Party affairs, Root said he entered them as "a S.O.B. (son of a butcher), small businessman, home-school dad, Las Vegas oddsmaker, and political newcomer". Now, Root's recently published Angry White Male: How the Donald Trump Phenomenon is Changing America -- and What We Can All Do to Save the Middle Classhas attained bestseller status. Agree or disagree with his brand of 'Ronald Reagan libertarianism,' Root certainly has made a success of it.He spoke with me about many issues pertaining to libertarianism and its role in American society. Some of our discussion is available below.

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Joseph Ford Cotto: One reason the American
economy fails to meet standards set by its postwar halcyon era is that it
produces a decreasing number of material goods. What would you say could be
done to reinvigorate our manufacturing sector?Wayne Allyn Root: Simple. Dramatically cut
the taxes and regulations. Make America among the lowest tax countries in the
world. Kill all the job-killing regulations. Fill the government with
businessmen like me who understand government is the enemy of economic growth
and job creation. Get rid of bureaucrats and lawyers -- they are the job killers.
Price out every regulation on the books currently, or proposed. If the cost is
high and it destroys jobs, kill it, wipe it off the books. And for God’s sake
please kill Obamacare. Stick a sword through its heart. Stab it about 100 times
to make sure it’s dead. Do all of that, and we will invent a new word for our
success -- “Reverse Inversion.” Every company in the world will want to move to
America!Cotto: China is notorious for its
currency manipulation schemes. Beyond this, however, it not only owns a tremendous
amount of America's national debt, but accounts for much of our trade deficit
as well. How do you suppose that the U.S. could level the playing field in the
near future?

Root: President Trump is a
brilliant deal-maker, negotiator and salesman. Set him loose on China. Use the
carrot and the stick. Ask them nicely to play ball and level the playing
field…and offer a carrot they cannot refuse. Hint strongly that if they don’t
respond with a reasonable compromise, we will impose the stick. My bet- they
will compromise, negotiate and level the playing field. But can you imagine how
dumb Obama is -- in eight years, he never even asked. He never tried to level the
playing field. If you don’t ask, you don’t get!